Lighting controllers are used to control lighting fixtures in a theater or other setting. A conventional controller includes input devices, such as sliders, rotatable knobs, and touchscreens to control the settings for the lighting fixtures. Many current controllers place the knobs along the right-hand side of the touchscreen. Such placement is biased towards right-hand dominant users. Since not all users are right-handed and since users frequently move between input controls, there is a need for a more ergonomic layout for a lighting controller.
In addition, many current lighting controllers require lighting operators to specify colors or other attributes using absolute or fixture-dependent values which make controlling the lighting fixtures relatively complicated. For example, some controllers require that a particular color be specified as a certain percentage of each of the color components, such as 75% red, 50% green and 25% blue. Since different types of lighting fixtures may require different inputs, an operator must also know the type of lighting fixture being controlled. In order to make lighting control more intuitive, there is a need for a lighting controller that allows a user to input a descriptive value or a relative value instead of an absolute value.